Condition got me kicked off uni course
TIM Niven lost his place on a post-graduate course because of his stammer.
The 53-year-old’s story forms part of the video awareness campaign.
Tim, of Partick, Glasgow, had a successful career as a chef before achieving an honours degree in politics and then a masters degree in alcohol and substance abuse.
But despite his obvious aptitude for learning, he was kicked out of university just a few years ago while studying for a second masters degree – because his mentor said his speech disability would prevent him from completing the course.
Tim took legal action and won. But the two-year hiatus in his studies while the case went through the courts meant that he had run out of time to complete the course in the allotted time. Tim, who is a trustee with the Scottish Stammering Network, said: “When I’ve had blocks in the past, people have regularly assumed because I was having problems speaking, I also had learning difficulties.
“I want to make quite clear it is not a learning difficulty, it is just a speech issue.”